Not far from the city...

Not far from the city walls of Jerusalem is an old Crusader fortress. In the middle of this fortress is a tiny stone tower. In the middle of the tower's one small room is a rock. And in the middle of this rock is the traditional footprint of Jesus, left in the rock at the time of Jesus' ascension.

From Jerusalem, from the time of Jesus' ascension, the disciples' footprints were left throughout the ancient world and have now disappeared. But the message Jesus gave the disciples to bear has not disappeared from the earth.

Sandra Herrmann

The word epiphany is from the Greek and refers to the experience of a sudden and amazing realization. Usually it’s applied to a scientific or philosophical/religious breakthrough, but it can apply in any situation in which a brilliant insight gives a person a different perspective on life or a problem s/he has been considering. For example, Archimedes’ famous shriek of “Eureka!” came as he was in the baths, contemplating yet again the difficulty of determining if a given mass would float.

Ron LoveMark EllingsenBob OveBonnie BatesBill ThomasFrank Ramirez

Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10Imagine a worship service, a sharing of scripture and interpretation, that went on from dawn until midday. How would you respond? In many of our mainline churches a worship service that last more than an hour risks negative comments to the pastor. “Worship was too long.” “I have other things to do today.” “Can’t you try to keep worship to an hour?”

Janice B. Scott

Some time ago there was a series of programmes on BBC 2 on the recent history of the Catholic Church. The series was called "Absolute Truth", and one programme looked at Catholicism in the developing parts of the world. It studied the work of liberation theologians in Latin America, particularly Leonardo Boff and Oscar Romero.